Converter and support for suction cleaners



Nov. 22, 1955 G. P. DAIGER ET AL CONVERTER AND SUPPORT FOR SUCTION CLEANERS Filed Feb. 25, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. fieorga 1? 0a zger 8: Werner 0. Sack B S ATTORNEY.

Nov; 22, 1955 s. P. DAIGER ET AL 2,72 ,1

CONVERTER AND SUPPORT FOR SUCTION CLEANERS Filed Feb. 23, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. George R Da i ger cfLWerner 0'. Seek I z a 2 ATTORNEY.

UnitedStates Patent CONVERTER AND SUPPORT FOR SUCTION CLEANERS George P. Daiger and Werner G. Seek, Canton, Ohio, assignors to The Hoover Company, North. Canton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application February 23, 1951, Serial N 0. 212,470. 4 Claims. (Cl. 15-333) This invention relates to suction cleaners and more particularly to an upright cleaner which is altered for olf-the-floor cleaning by inserting a converter tool to raise the on-the-floor cleaning nozzle to inoperative position.

An object of the invention is to provide a suction the cleaner must be lifted off the floor prior to inserting the converter tool. Another object is to provide a converter tool which when inserted supports the. surface cleaning nozzle in inoperative position. A further object is to provide a converter tool which when inserted tilts the front wheels from the floor to support the cleaner on the converter tool and the rear wheels. Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent fromthe following description and drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side view, partly broken away, showing the converter tool inserted from the. rear end of the cleaner; t

Figure 2 is a bottom view showing the converter tool inserted, and

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the converter tool.

The embodiment of the invention herein disclosed c0mprises a suction cleaner body having an on-the-iloor cleaning nozzle 8, a fan chamber 9 provided with a fan eye 10 in a body wall 11, and a suction air passageway 12, formed in part by a removable bottom plate 13, extending from the nozzle 8 to the fan eye 10. An exhaust passageway 14 extends from the fan chamber 9 to an outlet 15 to which is removably mounted the lower end of a bag 16, and the upper end of the latter is: supported from a handle 17 pivotally mounted on the body. An unshown motor in a housing 18 has its shaft projecting downwardly through the fan chamber 9 and the fan eye .10 to support a fan 19 and a belt pulley 20. Rotatably mounted within the nozzle 8 is an agitator 21 driven by a belt 22 extending through the passageway 12 to the pulley 20. The cleaner is supported on front wheels 23-23 and rear wheels 24-24, the latter being mounted on brackets 25 along the sides of the exhaust passageway 14. t

The rear end of the suction air passageway 12 is provided with a port facing the rear end of the body below the exhaust passageway 14 and is normally closed by a valve 27 rotatably mounted on a pin 28 supported in the bottom plate 13, and a torsion spring 29 about the pin 28 biases the valve 27 to its closed positionindicated in dotted lines in Figure 1.

During on-the-floor cleaning the wheels 23 and 24 support the cleaner on the surface indicated at 32 and maintain the nozzle lip 31 in proper position for. the agitator 21 to contact the. surface 32, and'the fan 19 creates suction to draw the dirt laden air through the' nozzle mouth, air passageway 12 and fan eye 10 into the fancharnber 9 from which it is discharged through the exhaust passageway 14 into the bag 16 which removes the dirt from the air prior to its passing through the bag.

A converter guiding means is provided rearwardly of 2,724,140 Patented Nov. 22, 1955 the valve 27 and includes a pair of members 34 each having a converter supporting flange 35, a vertical wall 36 and another flange 37 which is secured by rivets 39 to the exterior of the wall 11 of the exhaust passageway 14.

The converter tool comprises a hollow body having a rectangular portion 40 and a tubular end 41 to which may be attached a hose 49 provided at its opposite end with a suitable nozzle for cleaning with suction alone when the cleaner is arranged for oif-the-fioor operation. The rectangular portion 40 has a top wall 42, bottom wall 43 and opposed side walls 44-44 which form an arcuate end wall 45. The forward end of the rectangular portion 40 is provided in its top wall 42 with an opening 46 slightly larger than fan eye 10, and the bottom wall 43 and the arcuate end wall are provided with a slot 47 to receive the shaft portion 48 of the pulley 20. The bottom wall 43 is inclined upwardly to reduce the height of the side walls 44 so that the bottom wall 43 can receive the shaft portion 48 above the belt 22.

The valve structure for the pulley slot 47 is somewhat like that shown in Figures 5 to 8 of the patent to White 2,450,846 and need not be described in detail. A pair of valve elements 50 are biased by a spring 51 to close' the slot opening 47 in the bottom wall 43 and the armate end wall 45 except for the circular opening 52 which receives the shaft portion 48.

A latch for securing the converter tool in the cleaner body includes a lever 55 pivotally mounted on a pin 56 supported in the top wall 42 of theconverter. A hook 57 is formed on one end of the lever 55 to receive a pin 58 on the cleaner body and an extended lever arm 59 is provided for manipulating the lever at the rear of the cleaner body. A torsion spring 60 about the pin 56 biases the lever arm 59 away from the converter tool as shown in Figure 3.

Attached, by rivets 62, to the bottom wall 43 of the converter is a cleaner supporting member 63 having an inclined portion 64 and a flat surface engaging portion 65 which terminates in an upwardly arcuate end 66 having a surface 67 to bear against the bottomwall 13 of the air passageway 12 forwardly of the center of gravity of the cleaner body indicated by the dotted line 68.

The surface engaging portion 65 projects a distance from the rectangular body 40 to prevent insertion of the converter until after the rear wheels 24 are lifted from the surface 32.

In order to insert the converter, when cleaning by suction alone, the cleaner body is tilted upwardly on the nozzle 8 to rest the latter on the surface 32 and raise the rear wheels 24 and the rear end of the cleaner verter guides 34 to the operator.

valve 27 and rotate the latter about the pin 28 to the full line position shown in Figure 1. Continued movement of the converter causes the valve elements 50 to engage the shaft portion 48 which separates the valve elements and the latter thereafter are moved to closed position by the. spring 51 to receive the shaft portion 48 in the opening 52 and seal off the nozzle 8 from the fan eye 10 to provide communication with thelatter When the converter is fully inserted, the latch hook 57 receives the pin 58 to lock the converter in position. While the and the tubular portion 41 of the converter.

valve elements 50 are being arranged about the shaft portion 48, the arcuate surface 67 is moved along the bottom plate 13 of the air passageway 12, and when, in proper position the end 67 seats against the bottom Y a wall 13 forwardly of the center of gravity 68 of the cleaner body.

The cleaner is then tilted rearwardly and downwardly to place the rear Wheels 24 on the surface 32 and the fiat portion 65 of the converter tool rests upon the surface indicated at 70 to support the cleaner thereon. In this position the nozzle lip 31 and front wheels 23 are raised above the surface 70 so that the latter cannot be cleaned by or contact the agitator 21. The cleaner can then be moved rearwardly over the surface 70 by pulling upon the dusting tool hose 49.

When the cleaner rests on the rear wheels 24 and the converter surface engaging portion 65, the latter supports substantially the weight normally taken by the front wheels 23 and such weight is transmitted from the cleaner to the portion 65 by the arcuate end 66 whereby the conduit portion 40 of the converter tool is not subjected to the forward weight of the cleaner.

To remove the converter the rear end of the cleaner is again raised about the nozzle 8 to expose the extended lever arm 59 and the lever is moved towards the converter to disengage the pin 53 whereby the converter may be pulled out of the air passageway 12 and the valve elements 50 are opened by the shaft portion 48 and thereafter closed by the spring 51. The cleaner is then tilted downwardly to rest the front and rear wheels upon the surface indicated at 32 to position the nozzle 8 and agitator 21 for on-the-floor cleaning.

While we have shown but a single modification of our invention it is to be understood that this modification is to be taken as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense. We do not wish to be limited to the particular structure shown and described but to include all equivalent variations thereof except as limited by the scope of the claims.

We claim:

' 1. A suction cleaner comprising a body including a surface cleaning nozzle at its forward end, a fan eye, a suction air passageway between said nozzle and fan eye, front and rear wheels normally engaging a surface to support the weight of the cleaner thereon and position said nozzle for on-the-flor cleaning, a valved converter opening in said air passageway and facing the rear of said cleaner body, a converter tool insertable from the rear of said body through said valved opening into said air passageway and having means for connection with said fan eye to close off said nozzle for off-the-floor cleaning, cleaner supporting means on said converter tool for resting on the surface to support thereon the cleaner body forward of the center of gravity, said supporting means projecting a distance to prevent insertion of said converter tool until said rear wheels are lifted from the surface, said converter tool when inserted positioning said supporting means below said front wheels, whereby when said rear wheels again rest upon the surface said supporting means also rest upon the surface to raise said nozzle and front wheels to inoperative position and support the cleaner weight normally taken by said front wheels for movement of said cleaner rearwardly on said supporting means and said rear wheels by pulling on said converter tool during off-the-fioor cleaning.

2. A suction cleaner comprising a body including a surface cleaning nozzle at its forward end, suction creating means, a suction air passageway between said nozzle and suction creating means, an exhaust passageway from said suction creating means to the rear end of said body, front and rear wheels engaging a surface to support the cleaner weight thereon and position the nozzle for on-the-floor cleaning, a valved converter port in said air passageway and facing the rear of said body below the exhaust passageway, a convertertool having a conduit and cleaner supporting means, said conduit insertable from the rear of said body below the exhaust passageway through said valved port into said suction air passageway and having means for connection with said suction creating means to close off said nozzle for otf-the-floor cleaning, said-supporting means having a surface engaging portion and a cleaner engaging portion, said surface engaging portion projecting from said conduit a distance to prevent insertion of said converter tool until said rear wheels have been lifted from the surface, said converter tool, when inserted, positioning said cleaner engaging portion into abutment with a wall of said suction air passageway and said surface engaging portion projecting below said front wheels and nozzle, whereby when said rear wheels again rest upon the surface said surface engaging portion also rests upon the surface to raise said nozzle and front wheels to inoperative position and support the cleaner weight normally taken by said front wheels, said cleaner engaging portion transmitting said weight to said surface engaging portion to prevent said weight being carried by said conduit.

3. A suction cleaner comprising a body including a surface cleaning nozzle at its forward end, a fan eye, a suction air passageway between said nozzle and fan eye, front and rear wheels engaging a surface to position said nozzle for on-the-floor cleaning, said rear wheels being spaced apart for passageway of a converter tool therebetween, a valved converter opening in said air passageway facing rearwardly between said spaced rear wheels, means for guiding insertion of a converter tool from the rear of saidcleaner body between said rear wheels and through said valved opening, a converter tool insertable in said guide means and valved opening and having means for connection with said fan eye to close off said nozzle, cleaner supporting means on said converter tool for resting on the surface to support the cleaner thereon, said supporting means projecting below said front wheels and forwardly of the center of gravity of the body to thereby raise said front wheels and said nozzle to inoperative position and support the cleaner weight normally taken by said front wheels.

4. A converter tool for suction cleaners having an on-the-floor cleaning nozzle at its forward end, suction creating means, an air passageway between said nozzle and said suction creating means and having a valved port facing the rear end of the cleaner for receiving the converter tool, and front and rear wheels engaging a surface to support the cleaner weight thereon and to position said nozzle for on-the-floor cleaning; comprising a conduit and cleaner supporting means, said conduit to be inserted from the rear of the cleaner through said valved port into said air passageway and having means for connection with the suction creating means, said supporting means having a surface engaging portion and a cleaner engaging portion, said surface engaging portion projecting from said conduit a distance to prevent insertion of said converter tool until said rear Wheels are lifted from the surface, said converter tool, when inserted, positioning said cleaner engaging portion into abutment with the cleaner and said surface engaging portion projecting below said front wheels and nozzle, whereby when said rear wheels again rest upon the surface said surface engaging portion also rests upon the surface to raise said nozzle and front wheels to inoperative position and support the cleaner weight normally taken by said front wheels, said cleaner engaging portion transmitting said weight to said surface engaging portion to prevent said weight being carried by said conduit.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 16,763 Hoover Oct. 4, 1927 2,202,982 Bell June 4, 1940 2,525,801 Howard Oct. 17, 1950 2,606,336 Balluff Aug. 12, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 337,202 Great Britain Oct. 30, 1930 

